Berlin’s 48 Hour Film Project

Houston, we have a problem!’ Hollywood is flooding us with its high budget productions full of all the megastar actors, who are either members of a sect or spend all their money on cosmetic operations. The American film industry is flooding us with its super movies and special effects and it appears that breath-taking explosions of big buildings or spectacular highway pursuits are more important than offering the spectator a good and meaningful story. Do you want to liberate us from this disaster? Why not participate in the 48 Hour Film Project in Berlin and enjoy really good films!

Between the 17th and 19th of July, the German capital is celebrating the third edition of this international and well known 48 Hour Film Project.

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Museum Island in Berlin Germany

Museum Island Berlin

Each time we go on holiday we have the same problem. Before going on your trip you make a well thought list of all the museums, monuments, castles and sights that you would like to visit. But the list seems to be infinite and all the attractions are spread out through the whole big city. I’m sure that your feet will go on strike. However, Berlin seems to pay attention to its visitor’s well-being. The German capital offers you a spectacular Island where you don’t have to walk thousands of miles to discover the world of culture, history and the most important monuments of humanity: Visit the Museum Island in Berlin!

This unique island is situated in the northern part of the Spreeinsel, the famous island on the river Spree, in the centre of Berlin. The Island owes its name due to all the prestigious museums there. This piece of land enjoys a kind of historical importance: in former times it was the residence dedicated to “arts and science” from Frederick William IV of Prussia around 1841. Over the centuries under the rule of different Prussian kings, the art collection and archaeological treasures became more extensive. Finally since 1918 they belonged to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (Stiftung Preuβischer Kulturbesitz).

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U2 to be fined in Barcelona for being too loud

It looks like the Irish superstars of U2 are being fined by Barcelona’s City Hall for being too noisy. Call me old fashioned but isn’t that what a rock concert is all about? Bono and the boys were able to organise a video conference at their first gig to the International Space Station as part of their launch of their 360º World Tour which kicked off in Barcelona last week but have fallen foul of Barcelona City Hall’s greedy councillors. It is also reported that U2 also held rehearsals without permission from the City Hall.

Local newspaper El Punt have reported that Barcelona City Hall is to fine the band because their concert was too loud, above the 70 decibel limit, and also for holding a practice session without permission at the FC Barcelona stadium until midnight, when 10pm is the limit. The size of the fine has not been disclosed.

This harsh measure which can only be described as greedy as well as stupid comes despite U2 leader Bono thanking local residents for their patience in putting up with the noise from rehearsals, at the start of the first concert.

To make matters worse the rather pathetic and almost inexistent public transport after the first gig in the city which finished at 12:20a.m proved a big problem for the 90,000 fans at each of the two gigs played in the city last week. Thousands of pedestrians trying to find their way home caused considerable disruption to drivers in the district, while local greedy taxi drivers were charging between 30€ and 60€ to get back to the plaza Catalunya and the centre of town.

Getting to the metro on Thursday, the second gig was a joke. There were thousands of U2 fans all heading towards the Collblanc station. Once there you couldn’t even make out the station and people slowly poured inside once they found the mouth of the metro. Once inside the metro station, the heat was stifling and hundreds of fans found themselves queuing up for a ticket! A rather ridiculous situation if you ask me. I mean, a supergroup comes to the city, brings in lots of money and they couldn’t be bothered to waiver the price of a ticket and let the passengers through for an hour or so. That’s greedy Barcelona City Hall for you! Even the metro employees were looking to see if you had validated your ticket!

Anyway, to end a on a good note it was one of the best concerts I’ve seen in a long while and having Snow Patrol on first was the icing on the cake. Well done Bono and the boys from U2.

via lifeincatalonia.com

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sachsenhausen berlin

Today the whole world knows the horrific history of the Second World War and the atrocities that occurred in the Nazi concentration camps. Perhaps the best known was the Auschwitz Camp, but throughout Germany there were many other concentration camps, such as Sachsenhausen

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The Sachsenhausen concentration camp takes its name from the Sachsenhausen district, (Oranienburg), located only at 35km from Berlin. It operated between 1936 and 1950. Sachsenhausen was destined to be the model to follow and most important of all the concentration camps. Of the 200.000 prisoners that were sent there, about 50,000 were brutally murdered. From 1936 to 1945 Sachsenhausen was controlled by the Nazi regime, but from 1945 to 1950 it fell into the hands of the occupying Soviet forces. But at first, like all the concentration camps in the area, it was built by the Nazis and designed to massively annihilate political opponents, Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and war prisoners.

Visit the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp is almost a requirement if you travel to the German capital. Rent Apartments in Berlin and immerse yourself in world history.

sziget festival – sziget 2009 festival | Apartments in Hungary

The Sziget 2009 Festival is a special event that will be openly circulated throughout the different types of media. This is a musical, artistic expression and a meeting point between different cultures and tendencies. This is the biggest festival in Europe and the third in the world! Also known as “Woodstock on the Danube”, the festival celebrates its seventeenth edition. The festival lasts for seven days without stopping, has 1,000 shows, 70,000 campers, and expects an attendance of 400,000 people throughout the week.

This is a unique event where you can hear everything: from Pop, Rock, or Heavy Metal, to Blues, Hip Hop, reggae, African music, World music, Folk, Dance, Jazz, Classical or many other sounds. But the Sziget Festival also offers other things like theatre, exhibitions, dance, film, video festivals, extreme sports and international cuisine.

The best artists from around the world meet at this festival. It is like a dream come true!
There is no shortage of great performances from world renowned artists. In recent years, bands and singers such as Eisbär, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Patty Smith, amongst others have put on shows! In this edition, however, the festival will announce the best of the international rock scene, such as: The Prodigy, Placebo, Fatboy Slim, The Offspring, Bloc Party, Snow Patrol, Ska-P, Ting Guración, Péndulo or Calexico.

Óbuda Island, where the festival is held, is only two kilometres from the Budapest centre – a charming capital, divided by the Danube in Buda and the old residential area, Pest, the centre of all commercial activities.

Transport is very efficient. There are special connections to go to the festival day and night and there will be all sorts of amenities for these special days! Obuda is like “being on another planet,” one feels free and there is a peaceful, pleasant and respectful atmosphere. Every one respects each other’s culture and tradition. You can create new friendships, new loves and new ideas. You’re going to explore new feelings as if you were not in a real world, very distant from our everyday life.

Would you like to discover this beautiful city? Rent apartments in Budapest right now to find the cheapest accommodation! The Sziget 2009 Festival will transform your summer into a true paradise.

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Malasaña Madrid – manuela malasaña madrid | Apartments Blog

alasaña or the “Wonders District” is one of the most beautiful districts in Madrid. This city offers many possibilities to spend a fantastic holiday. Charming neighbourhoods, a great nightlife and a delicious cuisine all make Madrid a very popular city for tourists from around the world.

Malasaña is located in the city centre and corresponds to the east area of the university district. It is limited by the Gran Via, Fuencarral , Calle San Bernardo and the area of Plaza Bilbao. To arrive by Metro there are two stops: Tribunal and Noviciado. There is also a night bus that goes through the city centre.

The neighbourhood owes its name to the young woman Manuela Malasaña, who took part in the Dos de Mayo Square defense during the invasion of Spain by Napoleon. This is a well known area, with an alternative atmosphere and nightlife, very similar to Camden Town in London, the East Village in New York or the Bairro Alto in Lisbon.

At night the streets of Malasaña are filled with people. Many young people gather in the parks to practice the botellón, a ritual practiced widely among the Spanish youth. They drink alcohol and listen to music in public places like parks, squares or streets. The streets are crowded all the night, even on weekdays.

Even the famous singer Manu Chao wrote a song called me gustas tú where he makes reference to the Malasaña neighbourhood. This is not a nightclub zone but rather an area with small and cosy premises, where different types of music like rock, reggae and punk are played. This is a very authentic and alternative neighbourhood. It breathes a very particular atmosphere: the street lamps emanate a yellow and magical light at night.

The Sideral is one of the historic premises in Malasaña, but the Via Láctea in the Calle Valverde is probably the most famous pub in the neighbourhood because Pedro Almodóvar used to go there.

If you want to have fun and at the same time get to know this fascinating city full of art, monuments and good food, you just have to book a flight to the Spanish capital. Rent Apartments in Madrid and you will have cheap and wonderful holiday.

via blogonlyapartments.com

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Capitoline Museum – Capitoline Museums in Rome | rome blog

Among the various museums that Rome has, in addition to the city itself, which is like an outdoor art gallery, full of monuments and statues (especially in the historic centre), there is one group of museums that you should not miss: the Capitoline Museums.

The appreciated Capitoline Museums are housed in two buildings facing each other: the Conservatori Palace and the New Palace. The museum dates back to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV gave the town a large collection of Lateran bronzes (including the Lupa Capitolina), which was placed in the courtyard of the Conservatori Palace in the Campidoglio Square. Because of that this is the oldest public museum in the world.

The former collection was enriched over time thanks to the donations from other popes. The museum was opened to the public thanks to Pope Clement XII, almost a century later, in 1734. This museum houses several collections: the Art Museum, the Protomoteca, the Castellani Collection and the Medagliere Capitoline. The masterpiece of the museum is the wonderful equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. There are two copies: the original one, which is located in the new Glass Room, and a copy, which is located in the centre of the square (the Marcus Aurelius Esedra, in the Roman Garden, behind the Conservatori Palace). In 2005 another wing was added which has been established as a new space to house the statue of Marcus Aurelius, the fragments of the bronze colossus of Constantine and the statue of Hercules. But there are many other important works located in this new wing.

The Capitoline Museums are open every day except Monday, from 9.00 am to 20.00 pm. The normal ticket costs 6.5€ or 4.50€ for young people between 18 and 25 years. For people over 65 it is totally free.

If you like art and you want to take in the Capitoline Museums in Rome travel to the Eternal City and rent apartments in Rome.

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Michael Jackson dead at 50 | The Word Monster

Michael Jackson the ‘King of Pop’, is dead

Today can be considered a Black Friday for music lovers the World over. The “King of Pop” has died at the age of 50 from a heart attack in Los Angeles. The singer was about to go on tour for the last time and return to the stage on 13th July in London. All seats were sold out months ago and thousands of the singer’s fans who wanted to see him for the last time at the 02 Arena are now grieving his death.

Apparently a call was made at 12:26 in the afternoon, Californian time that alerted the need for an ambulance. It appears that Jackson received reanimation treatment before arriving at the University hospital of California in a state of coma. Minutes after his arrival, he was pronounced dead.

Jackson’s health has always been, for the greater part of his life, delicate, for which he has required the need for medical attention on numerous occasions, four of them during the court trial for which he was accused of child abuse in 2005. Nevertheless, the death of Michael Jackson comes as a great surprise to all of his fans and even more so when he was about to perform at the scheduled 50 concerts in London to say a last farewell as a performer on the big stage.

The Los Angeles Police department has opened an investigation to find out the circumstances in which ended with the singer’s sudden death.

The ‘King of Pop’ earned more than 405 awards, being the artist awarded with the most prizes in musical history. Jackson broke all records of sales of his music and it has taken many years to equal this feat by other stars.

The singer leaves three children, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson y Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II. He also leaves the music industry and millions of fans orphaned by his tragic death.

via thewordmonster.com

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memento park Budapest – statue park Budapest | Apartments in Hungary

Budapest, a city of a thousand resources and full of places to visit, gives us the opportunity to discover its secrets through a fascinating place: the Memento Park. After having visited the city centre, go the outskirts, where the charming Memento Park is located.

After the change of regime in the capital in 1989-1990, unlike many other cities that burned or destroyed all the communist symbols, Budapest preserved part of them. They gathered all the statues representing the great figures of communism like Marx, Lenin, Stalin or Bela Kun, along with the anonymous soldiers and liberators of the USSR and they created this park in their memory. This is one of the most beautiful and curious attractions of the city and a mandatory stop. It looks like a big building full of classical statues, where you can see the attempt of the architect Ákos Eleőd to highlight the nature of the dictatorship.

The different statues and symbols appear to shout out against the dictatorial regime in the name of freedom. Today this park is a place of commemoration and an interesting museum to visit. There are allegoric monuments that symbolize the “Hungarian – Soviet” friendship and the “Liberation” along with statues of the labour movement and the soldiers of the Red Army.

One of the most appreciated statues is the Soviet Liberator Soldier statue. This is a 6 metre tall statue with a fearsome look. It was initially placed at the top of the Gellért hill, so everybody could see it. This soldier has a flag in the hand with a hammer and sickle and a pistol. This park is a unique museum, and an important symbol of this charming city.

The park is located on the outskirts of the capital. There are many remains of ancient statues: for example, there are Stalin’s boots (the only part that remains of the statue), which after World War II dominated Heroes’ Square in Budapest. This is a place for parades and state meetings.

This huge park full of exciting statues is a real honour to the condemnation of any regime. Rent your Apartments in Budapest and don’t miss the Memento Park… It will captivate you!

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Paris Beach – Beach in Paris | Apartments Blog

Who said Paris does not have a beach? Since 2002 the city of lights has had something new to visit every summer: Paris Beach. From July 20th until August 20th , the most touristic city in the world becomes a spa. Because he couldn’t accept the idea that people who were not able to go on vacation couldn’t enjoy sunbathing, the Mayor of the city decided to transform the right bank of the Seine into a large beach along with other sites in the capital such as the Place de l’Hôtel – de-Ville or the pond of the Villette.

Since then, every summer, between the island of Saint Louis and the Island of the Cité, you can find everything that you find when you go on holiday to the beach. Palm trees, paddling pools for children and atomizers to refresh yourself. There’s also a swimming pool floating on the Seine. In addition there are a number of free sports activities, fitness sessions, relaxation, mini-golf, bowls, sailing, rowing or canoeing.

Paris Beach has a very varied choice of activities to please both kids and adults, in family or between friends. A space has been specially laid out for them, Adventure Beach, where they can find trampolines, pedal boats, water sports and workshops with clowns to have fun. While the kids build sand castles, parents can relax on deckchairs available to everyone, enjoy ice cream, attend one of the many concerts or just sip a drink in one of the bars installed on the banks of the Seine.

The right bank of the Seine is completely blocked and cars are banned and other sites are also earmarked for the event. After this huge success attracting thousands of Parisians and tourists, other cities are taking note and doing the same; creating their own version of Paris Beach. Berlin, Budapest, Prague, to name a few, installs each summer water activities in their capitals.

The new slogan in the capital of romance is Sea, Seine & Sun! Do not resist the call of Paris Beach, rent your apartments in Paris right now to spend an unforgettable summer.

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